North Korea test-fires strategic cruise missile
North Korea has test-fired sea-to-surface strategic cruise guided missiles, the North's state media reported Sunday, in the first missile launch since US President Donald Trump took office last week.
North Korea has test-fired sea-to-surface strategic cruise guided missiles, the North's state media reported Sunday, in the first missile launch since US President Donald Trump took office last week.
North Korea launched multiple short-range ballistic missiles toward the East Sea on Tuesday, South Korea's military said, in a provocation staged just days before US President-elect Donald Trump takes office.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Saturday stated that the Ukrainian security forces have captured two North Korean military personnel in the Kursk region amid the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
North Korea on Saturday lambasted a recent trilateral meeting between South Korea, the US and Japan that discussed peace in the Indo-Pacific region, deriding the talks as an "insult" to peace.
A Ukrainian media outlet has reported that about 500 North Korean soldiers were killed in a missile strike by Kyiv in Russia's western Kursk region.
Pyongyang has taken relatively drastic anti-virus measures by closing its borders with China, where the coronavirus originated in late December.
North Korea is among just a few countries in the world that claim to have no coronavirus infections, generating speculation that it might be hiding an outbreak.
Arguably, President Kim has also obfuscated reality as he turned up at the testing site without a face mask, even as South Korea has been battling the scourge.
The timing of the missile launches is interesting. At a time when the attention of the world is focussed on how to contain the spread of the deadly virus, North Korea has controlled information to the outside world and has reported no infections. It has projected an image of normality. Though the country closed the borders and all tourist traffic into the country well in time, it remains to be seen how it remained insulated from the spread of the virus when as many as 177 countries are reeling under its severity. Kim Jong-un often boasts of showing his presence at the site of missile launches but was not seen wearing a mask.
Pyongyang has moved to beef up self-defence capabilities amid stalled denuclearization talks with the US.
